If this happens again, the world might implode.
So happy for Big Al.
Delonte West sticks a finger in Gordon Hayward’s ear
Add to that West ramming into Hayward as he committed the foul before the incident, and calling him what he called him during the incident (attention lip readers). The douche bar keeps getting lowered by some of these “professional” athletes.
The greatest dunk that never was.
Some Jazz player close-ups.
(Source: shandonfan)
Andrei Kirilenko’s new tattoo
It’s of his WoW character — a level 80 Paladin riding a dragon. Total nerd.
G-Time Rookie Highlights!
Kid has unassuming natural ability and intangibles. I was wrong about him. Now let’s see how he grows as a leader of a team.
What a bizarre, improbable win in LA tonight.
Honestly, I never thought the Jazz would ever beat a Kobe-led team at Staples ever again. D-Will couldn’t do it. Boozer couldn’t do it. Okur hasn’t done it. And it’s been 11 years since AK has done it. So trust me when I say that I am shocked that out of all the times to do it, they do it with THAT roster.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, has gone right for the Jazz post-Sloan/Deron. They’ve gone 5-15, were on an 8-game losing streak (longest since ‘04-05) which have included a recent home loss to the Wizards and a double digit road loss to the Kings, and were without 5 players — about $40 million sitting on the bench.
So out of all the places to pick up a road victory, the Lakers’ home floor, a place where they haven’t won since Jan. 1st, 2006 (17 straight including playoffs) and haven’t won with Kobe in the lineup since Nov. 1st, 2000, would be the last I would expect. Especially not against a team that has dominated the Jazz, have dominated post-break, and are the two-time defending champions.
Nothing should surprise me anymore.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The Lakers — who most likely will win a third straight championshipship — were off, and it was an ugly, sloppy, lethargic game for both teams. But let’s give credit to the Jazz. They played hard throughout the entire game. Any win, regardless of how ugly it is, is a good win, especially for a young, struggling team in major transition.
Most of all, major props to Gordon Hayward and his coming out party. He’s never been as aggressive and assertive as he was on the offensive end, and did as well as a rookie could on an assignment on Kobe at the defensive end. Every offensive possession down the stretch seemed to involve him in some fashion, whether it was him draining shots, making timely passes or getting dribble penetration. He even had a nice two-man game going with that other promising rookie (Derrick Favors) in the clutch. As the final horn sounded, Hayward finished with a career-high 22 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and a block. Most importantly, the kid helped the team sneak away with the most rarest of wins.
With such an unfathomable, mind-boggling season, it’s nice to witness games like these, from young players against championship contenders, that help give hope to a franchise’s future.
About time something good happened to these kids. Now everyone can take something positive out of this game, put this season behind them and look forward to some ping pong ball action. Good for the Jazz.
![G-Time at Staples
Proud of Gordon Hayward. He grew up a bit tonight.
[via]](http://img.blog.sosu-fufu.com/20110308_775854.jpg)
19. Utah Jazz
My third-favorite thing about the Williams trade: In a 24/7 reporting world of “Heard this” and “Sources say,” nobody knew Williams was on the block until he was traded. It was relatively amazing. So amazing that, apparently, a couple of teams were miffed (not ticked, not pissed; just miffed) that Utah never gave them an exploratory heads-up before saying yes to Jersey.Utah’s reasons made sense: Jersey had the most assets (and was offering them), so Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor was afraid Williams might catch wind and sabotage the deal. Still, with ten minutes to go before officially saying yes, couldn’t Utah have called Oklahoma City, Boston, Houston, Golden State, the Knicks and Clippers and said, “Keep it low, but you have ten minutes to consider the following Godfather offer for Deron Williams.” Why not? Don’t you want to know for sure? What would Golden State have done if it had 10 minutes to respond to “Curry, your 2011 and 2013 unprotected No. 1’s and an expiring contract for Williams”? What would Boston have done if given 10 minutes to digest “Rondo, Perkins, and a 2013 No. 1 for Williams”? Or the Clippers if “Gordon, Aminu, Kaman and the rights to Minny’s 2012 No. 1 pick” were thrown at them?
Think of it this way: Don’t you hate when someone gets traded in your fantasy league and you never knew the guy was available? Isn’t this how 80 percent of all fantasy league email wars start? Why wouldn’t this also be the case for real leagues? Do you think the Williams trade led to a huge reply-to-all email chain with eight or nine GMs bitching about O’Connor, then him firing back with something personal like, “Maybe if you spent as much time scouting as you do emailing, you wouldn’t be in the lottery again”? followed by F-bombs flying back and forth and people not talking for three months? Or does this just happen in fantasy?
(Thinking.)
You’re right, it just happens in fantasy. My bad. By the way, my League of Dorks auction lasted for eight and a half hours last weekend. At one point, we were arguing about whether you should be able to trade minor league picks right up to the day of the minor league draft, or whether the deadline should remain the week before — I was pushing for “day of” — and one owner actually said the words, “I don’t know if we want to set a precedent,” like we were Supreme Court justices arguing Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. I should also mention that I set a Google alert for Miguel Pineda these past four weeks. Don’t ask. I need professional help. Let’s just move on.
Bill Simmons’ power ranking of the Utah Jazz and his take on the D-Will trade. Hilarious stuff. And he’s on to something about the opportunity that was lost. Makes sense.
